Leigh Bowery
In this clip, Fashion & Identity Commentator Caryn Franklin and subculture photographer Derek Ridgers review the enduring legacy of the iconic fashion designer, Fetishist and performance artist Leigh Bowery. Franklin interviewed Bowery when she hosted BBC's The Clothes Show in the '80s and Ridgers often saw the Fetishist at club Taboo.
Leigh Bowery's sensational costumes and theatricality veered into the obscene and later inspired designers like Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh. His club night Taboo was founded in 1985 and hosted an eclectic bunch of drag queens, subcultures, surrealists and anti-traditionalists like the fashion designer John Galliano.
"I thought Leigh deserved a much bigger audience... When I review some of those looks, I realized that they were, to a certain extent incarcerating of his body, you know, every inch of flesh was covered." ~ Caryn Franklin
"I think you can liken what salvia is doing to herself with what Leigh was doing back in the mid 80s. He was always changing his body. I saw him perform once with Minty. Halfway through, he staggered back and gave birth." ~ Derek Ridgers
FEATURING
Caryn Franklin. Fashion & Identity Commentator & Agent of Change
Derek Ridgers. Subculture Photographer
The Clothes Show: Leigh Bowery Episode
BBC Archive
Derek Ridgers. Subculture photographer
Leigh Bowery: Wigstock 1994
Creative Commons
Fetish subculture photographs , The Dark Carnival
Derek Ridgers. Subculture photographer
Cover image
Leigh Bowery, Session IV, Look 21, 1991
Fergus Greer. The Guardian